Sources: Twitter is strongly considering making verified users subscribe to Twitter Blue at $4.99 a month or lose their badges (Casey Newton/Platformer)

Casey Newton / Platformer:
A Twitter HQ seating chart shows Elon Musk’s top five special projects: Blue verified, Blue for business, encrypted DMs, tips on tweets, and longform notes  —  After demanding the remaining Twitter employees pledge their loyalty, Musk’s product priorities are coming into focus  —  I. Extremely hardcore

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Sources: Musk has pitched charging most or all users a subscription fee to use Twitter; internal estimates show the new Blue could actually lose Twitter money  —  Will he go through with it?  PLUS: Botched layoffs, how the new Blue could lose money, and more

Bloomberg:
Sources: Twitter aims to charge for verification as soon as November 7, with a grace period for current verified users, and give all users edit button access  —  Twitter Inc. aims to start selling blue verification badges for user profiles as soon as next week, part of a plan by new owner Elon Musk …

Casey Newton / Platformer:
A look at a doc from Twitter’s trust and safety team on Nov. 1 that detailed how the new Blue subscription could be abused, largely ignored in a rush to launch  —  Employees and advertisers keep warning him about the risks of changes he’s making to Twitter — but he’s not listening

Casey Newton / Platformer:
Source: Meta Chief Product Officer Chris Cox directed the New Product Experimentation division to scale back and focus entirely on short-form video innovation  —  Facebook’s New Product Experimentation division is scaling back its mission dramatically, Platformer has learned.

James Ball / New Statesman:
Elon Musk’s plan to monetize Twitter verification would generate marginal revenue, even at $20/month, and create myriad problems, including enabling spammers  —  Elon Musk’s latest brainwave risks alienating the users Twitter depends on and would expose it to lawsuits.